Bucks County Community College opened up a new center for advanced technologies in Bristol Township which aims to train workers and prepare them for a future with well-paying jobs in the trades.
The $9.9 million 28,000 square-foot building, which sits right off Veterans Highway (Route 413) and I-95, is built with an eye to training locals for the workforce of today and the years to come.
The new facility is home to the community college’s manufacturing pre-apprenticeship programs, welding program, CDL training and, soon to come, pre-apprenticeship and HVAC programs.
The new center also offers online workforce training in Microsoft Office technology bookkeeping with Quickbooks and ESL (English as a second language). Instead of the traditional ribbon cutting, Bucks County Community College President Felicia Ganther wielded a hand grinder and cut through a metal pipe to open the new center.
Bucks County Commissioner Chairman Bob Harvie called the new center “a bridge to the future” as well as a step toward increasing the workforce. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick told the crowd, “The center will help Bucks County Community College define itself and standout from other community colleges in the nation.”